Audio EXP: #195 – It’s Coronation Day; let’s talk about voting

Welcome home.

This is Audio EXP for the 6th of May, 2023, and the episode title is “It’s Coronation Day; let’s talk about voting”.

[The following is a transcript of Audio EXP: #194]

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Zotiquest Games is in the Spotlight this month, as voted for by Patreons.

True to tradition, it’s the very start, sort of, of the month, and I’ve not told Zotiquest Games about their victory in this unsolicited battle royale of votes yet.

I will, though. I’ve got a day off this week, so I’ve got a little more time. I’ve that extra day as here in the UK it’s a rare event; a Coronation.

King Charles III has taken the throne, and Queen Camilla has broken with tradition and is recycling a crown from history, not getting a new one made for her. Jewellers around London will be heartbroken, and Camilla will wear the crown made for Mary of Tek.

Mary of Tek, of course, Queen Mary was the wife of King George V, and the crown has not been worn in public for over 70 years, and it’s been on display in the Tower of London.

However, Mary of Tek’s crown won’t have the Kohinoor Diamond. That’s one of the world’s largest cut diamonds, a gift to Queen Victoria in 1850.

The problem with the Kohinoor Diamond? The British nicked it from India during the painful era of the East India Company. But enough of all this reality; let us get back to geeking and gaming! Although, let me say it’s good of Camilla not to demand a new crown and, at least, not to flaunt the Kohinoor Diamond.

Imagine this, your party of adventurers trudge into town, start to unpack their wagon, hoping to trade loot from the dungeon with local merchants, and they’re confronted by the local militia.

The militia point to some of the groups’ gear and protest at the coils of rope they have. The problem? The heroes could use those ropes to tie themselves to doors, stables and fences and block the area with their own bodies. An illegal disruption. All it takes is for the militia to suspect the adventurers might do this, and they have the legal authority to arrest them.

Imagine that. Your players will boggle at the dystopia of the weird little fantasy town.

Except… sorry to do this to you… I’ve not moved on at all. I’m still talking about the coronation. That happened in London today as anti-Monarchy protesters were arrested for having, what the police say, are devices that could be used to fasten people to things and that protesters were thinking of doing that.

Crazy.

Right, really, for real, let’s talk voting. Let me tell you who the candidates for June’s RPG Publisher Spotlight are;

• Lone Colossus Games
• Deep Light Games
• The Scrying Dutchman
• Midnight Owl Games
• dicegeeks

Furthermore, if you’re tempted to vote, then let me tell you about The Curse of Er’Mah’Gerd.

If you’re a patron before the 23rd, you’ll get The Curse of Er’Mah’Gerd, which is good.

The Curse of Er’Mah’Gerd is D&D with humour, and thanks to the success of the D&D movie, many people, like me, are now convinced that it can work.

Thanks to David Michael Williams and One Million Words, we’ve an art preview on the site and copies of the 200-page 5e light parody to give to patrons.

But, as we know, Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast don’t always get everything right. Last week we had Pinkerton raids, and this week when Egg Embry came to me with a story pitch, it was one we knew needed to be carefully spotted.

Egg was aware that iconic artist Jeff Easley had told Facebook followers about his disappointment that his signature had been airbrushed out of a D&D Honour Among Thieves promo poster he had done.

Egg’s write-up was great, but we were worried about making life for Jeff difficult by getting fans riled up. Sometimes angry people do the wrong thing.

If you’ve just listened to me sniping about politics and royals in the UK, you won’t be surprised to know that I ran the story. We added a note from yours truly to ask fans to be good.

The catch? While Hasbro’s eOne made the movie and all the creative control was with the company, the giant didn’t do everything. Paramount Pictures handled distribution, that important job of putting it into cinemas.

Of all the emails promos about D&D Honour Among Thieves that I’ve had, not one that, at least that I can find, came from Paramount. Still, we couldn’t be sure, so we updated the article.

Geek Native’s transparent in our updates and correction. If there’s a change after an article goes live, we explain so in a big box on the article itself, and there’s a corrections and updates page linked to in the footer which details every such change.

Despite all the drama, Dungeons & Dragons seems to weather the brand storm. The latest extension to the merch empire and is an official Build-a-Bear plushie dragon.

And, as ever, it’s not all about D&D and the major players. There are challengers. In the VTT space, One More Multiverse is a challenger, and they’ve progressed this week.

It’s a VTT that supports a few systems, has community standards and blends JRPG pixel art with storytelling and more traditional VTT features. It’s left public beta, so it’s an official on-the-shelf product now. The welcomed catch? It’s still free.

Nor is it all about RPGs here at Geek Native; there’s loads of anime too. Or, this month, perhaps that should be Ani-May. Crunchyroll, now part of Sony, has branded May Ani-May and signed some international deals.

Here in the UK, HMV is a partner and have  Attack on Titan, JUJUTSU KAISEN, My Hero Academia, and Toilet Bound Hanako-kun goodies in more than 100 stores. I was hoping for Jujutsu Kaisen fingerless gloves or Attack on Titan chewable Scout Corp jelly babies but I don’t think we’re going to get those.

Nevertheless, it’s great to see both anime and tabletop RPGs so well known these days.

Speaking of May, May the 4th is Star Wars Day. That’s when so many brands and blogs jump on the space-bandwagon and do something.

Geek Natie asked What one clever thing should you do for Star Wars Day?

The answer was to watch Curious Refuge’s Wes Anderson-inspired trailer. It’s awesome.

Then I packed it with Star Wars Day deals such as 15% off Sideshow Collectibles, deals and discounts at Just Geek and even new  Star Wars socks from Stance, and that’s where I get mine. I would recommend the site, but I didn’t get any more socks.

Sadly, sometimes it comes back to D&D and as we know, it’s not always good news.

Keith Baker, the guy who came up with the D&D campaign setting of Eberron and has been publishing Eberron material through the DMs Guild through the studio KB Presents, not Wizards of the Coast, has announced the studio will close.

The last book they’ll make is Frontiers of Eberron: Quickstone.

Visionary Production and Design will pick up four established titles and keep them on sale. They are;

• Exploring Eberron
• Chronicles of Eberron
• Dread Metrol
• Eberron Confidential

You can still follow the team on social media, with Keith Baker being part of Twogether Studios, producer Wayne Chang still on the Adventuring Zone Facebook page, editor Laura Hirsbrunner available via their Carrd site and the space plasma physicist, Manifest Zone co-host and adamantine bestseller Imogen Gingell on Twitter and at the website imogen.space.

There are also some bundles before we go. Atlas Games has an incredible DrivethruRPG hosted deal reduced by 70% with savings of nearly $200 for Ars Magica 4e. If you want to try not-D&D, then Ars Magica is very firmly in the camp of not-D&D.

Early FASA Traveller sci-fi RPG products are at the Bundle of Holding but you will need a copy of Traveller old enough to use them.

And on that note, let’s wrap up there, and we’ll catch up next week. Until then, don’t wear stolen bling, and fight on.